Another Senate candidate lies about military record

Another politician running for the Senate has lied for years about his military record.

Republican Mark Kirk, running for President Barack Obama’s old Senate set in Illinois, claimed for years that he won the U.S. Navy’s intelligence officer of the year while serving in the reserves.

But Kirk never won the award. His unit won an award but not him personally.

Kirk’s lie comes in the wake of revelations that Democratic Connecticut Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal lied about serving in Vietnam when his military service consisted primarily of working Toys for Tots drives in Washington.

Amazingly, some vets seem willing to overlook Kirk’s lie.

“It’s not right, but I don’t hold that in the disregard I would as someone claiming they served in Vietnam when they didn’t or won the Purple Heart when they didn’t,” says Jules Spindler, commander of the Illinois chapter of Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Lyle Gaddis, a 76-year-old Korean War vet, tells the Associated Press he is “disappointed” but probably will still vote for Kirk.

“It seems to me like if you see a politician who is actually telling the truth these days, you wonder where he came from,” Gaddis said.

Under the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, it is a federal crime to claim unearned military decorations or medals. While widely popular, these prosecutions raise constitutional questions of free speech. From judges to admirals to bank employees, citizens are facing accusations of felonious bravado.
When President Bush signed the act into law, he was probably thinking of people such as Steve Burton. Burton, of Palm Springs, Calif., appeared at his high school reunion in 2009 in the uniform of a Marine lieutenant colonel supporting enough medals to make a Soviet general blush. Unfortunately for him, he ran into a former classmate who is a real Navy commander, and she reported the possible fraudulent medals, including a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and the Navy Cross. His claim to have fought in Afghanistan and Iraq also drew suspicion. Burton actually worked in a bank.
Michael F. O’Brien. The Illinois circuit judge claimed not one but two medals of honor — with a display in chambers for visitors. It was only after he applied for Medal of Honor license plates in 1992 that he was eventually uncovered and forced to resign from the bench or face prosecution.

Some imposters served but gave themselves post-service promotions. David Weber was a Marine staff sergeant but later promoted himself by adopting the uniform of a retired two-star major general with two Purple Hearts. He pleaded guilty in January in San Diego.

Don’t these horrifically arrogant clowns realize the minute details of their military records can be very easily found?

With such ignorant and arrogant people in Congress, it’s no wonder our country is in such a mess!

Comments are closed.

Our Privacy Policy

We use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our Web site.

These companies may use aggregated information (not including your name, address, email address or telephone number) about your visits to this and other Web sites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.